Conventional record players tend to be large, heavy, and difficult to move. To solve this problem, a small and mobile record player that can fit in a pocket or backpack is desired. Such a record player may be placed on top of a phonographic record, and travel (using a motor and wheels) in a spiral-like pattern around a record toward the center of the record. While moving in a spiral, the record player's needle/stylus vibrates as it moves through the grooves of a record representing recorded audio, and those vibrations travel to wires in a cartridge at the end of the needle. Typically, a coil in a magnetic field converts the vibrations into electrical signals that are carried along wires to an amplifier. The amplifier may create boosted signals that are converted into sound through a speaker, producing the sounds and music recorded on vinyl records.
Because different types of records only sound as intended at a speed particular to that record, record players must be able to cause a needle to travel at different speeds. For example, a record that is 12-inches wide may play as intended when the needle is traveling around a record at a speed of 33 and ⅓ rotations per minute (RPM). Other records, which may be between 7-inches wide, may play as intended when the needle traveling around a record at a speed of 45 RPM.
When traveling around a stationary record, small record players as described herein may be configured in certain ways to playback sounds as intended.